NationStates Jolt Archive

How do you feel when people come to work sick?

Should they stay home to spare the health of those who aren't sick?

I say "yes"

there's someone about 10 feet away from me who's been coughing his head off all day... and it's pissing me off because he decided not to take a sick day in lieu of possibly spreading his cough to others.

Do people not realize that they're contagious when they do this? Do they not care? Are they mildly sociopathic in doing so?

This has become a major pet peeve of mine: coming to work sick.

We have 10 sick days every year. If people used them for days when they were sick, illness wouldn't be spread around the office to such a high degree.

cripes

If this can't be avoided, what can offices do to combat it?

hospital masks?

sick rooms?

free cough medicine?

Please vote and comment.

It depends how sick they are. If they leave a slug-like trail of mucus wherever they go and on whatever they touch, then they should stay home.

Meh. Depends how ill you are. I'm going to college every day, despite having a slight cold. But a few days ago it got worse, so I took 48 hours off. And then I was a bit better again, so I went back. I might spread it to a few people, but I try not to and if I do. Meh. They get 48 hours off college.

Totally depends on the workplace, in my opinion. Like, where I work, us underlings aren't allowed practically any sick days...I think it's 2 paid sick days per quarter. The position my boyfriend holds, one step up, only gets three per quarter. If somebody like myself, who gets sick often, can't afford to stay home, but is physically capable of doing their job, I think it should be our choice. However, if the specimen of perfect health has a shit day and they're wildly contagious, shit yeah they should stay home.

well if people are covering their mouths when they cough, some of those germs stay on their hands... so they grab things like door handles and leave the stuff there... and it spreads that way, as well as through the air. (or so i've heard)

as a general manager of a co in the past, I have sent people home that were obviously ill-like yopu described- couging outloud, sneezing and obviously sick & juicy. I reminded these same people it was a sick day-to use it for that and not abuse one down the road.

I cant stand people that insist on coming in when they're conatgious. I dont want to be sick and I dont want an office epidemic-or people anxious about being exposed.

If you're really sick-dont come in. And dont send your kids to school with snot running down their faces, coughing.

Send the sick guy home and have the cleaning crew do double time on the whole place. I'd open windows, clean the phones & desks and have the cleaning crew take all the trash out and hit the bathrooms too.

Its far cheaper than having more than one person out and the effect it could have on clients when phones arent answered or things arent addressed.

Interestingly enough, many common diseases are most contagious before you have any symptoms. So it's already to late by the time you notice it.

Given the fact that you are normally highly contagious even before the symptoms break out, I don't really care if people come to work sick. I do mind if their coughing gets disgusting and distractd me, yes. But considering that I take the bus to work every day, and work in a large building which is mainly just one open floor with a crummy air conditioning that just serves to distribute germs, chances are high I'll catch something anyway sooner or later if there's a bug around.

Do people not realize that they're contagious when they do this? Do they not care? Are they mildly sociopathic in doing so?

This has become a major pet peeve of mine: coming to work sick.
They aren't doing it just to get other people sick...but in our society, it is a weakness to not show up just because you're sick. People, especially older people, are proud that they 'never used a sick day in their life'. Plus, we are told, taking sick days is expensive, and therefore irresponsible. Many people get paid for a certain number of sick days, which 'drains company resources'. Those who have no paid sick days show up because they don't want to lose a day's wage. People who take sick days are generally ranked right up there with people who 'irresponsibly' take days off to take care of sick kids, or to attend the funerals of loved ones etc etc.

depends on how sick they are. if theyre vomiting and coming to work...go the fuck home.

If you're really sick-dont come in. And dont send your kids to school with snot running down their faces, coughing.

So if I stay home to take care of my sick, contagious kid, rather than sending them to school (in my case, to the dayhome), am I abusing MY sick day? (In order to stay home, I have to take a sick day.) I can't help feeling guilty every time I have to do this. My sick days aren't for me...they are for my kids.

For a while here, we were all told that we were FORBIDDEN to come to work sick. The reason was that one of our coworkers was married to a man who was undergoing cancer treatments, and was very vulnerable to infections. If she brought any 'bugs' home, they could become fatal. This was the first time I'd ever seen 'sick days' encouraged by management.

I hate to be sick and do whatever I can not to spread it.

When I was 26 yrs old, I caught the only disease of my life-chicken pox-from a cashier in the small town store I shopped in.
I was hospitalized for three days as my temperature was over 105 and I had the pox internally-the ones on my diaphragm muscle made it excrutiating to breathe.
The cashier died of complications from pnuemonia in the same hospital I was in, the day I was admitted.
She was contagious before she had symptoms, so this coulnt be helped.

Last week, my wife and kids all had strep throat and are just finishing a 10 day course of antibiotics. I was the only one that didnt get it.

Sometimes I'm lucky and sometimes I'm not. I do wash my hands often and I seem to have good resistance to start with.

This is the first teaching job I've had where I haven't picked up every single bug to come along...mostly because we don't actually have students in the building:) However, my kids bring back a lot that they pick up at the dayhome, though I realise it's a lot less than what they'd be getting at a daycare. Still, teachers and students tend to be exposed to a lot of bugs. I guess I'm still just building up my immune system:D . I definately get sick more often when I'm stressed out, but I can usually avoid getting the flu during flu season WITHOUT the stupid 'vaccine'.

As one of these people who goes to work sick, I have to say I don't go if I'm REALLY sick. If I'm coughing... tough. I'm not going to whimp out of work and miss pay, and force others to work harder just because your precious little self-contained world can't handle a little cough, and you call in sick when you get the slightest hint of illness. (that's a "you" in general) I HATE people who call in sick all the time, when they're just a little sick. It's irresponsible, and puts undo burden on the other people who have to pick up the slack.

Seems like a catch-22 to me...people resent you when you call in sick, and resent you when you don't. And as Bottle pointed out, you tend to be infectious before you have serious symptoms, so calling in sick is not necessarily going to prevent anyone from catching what you have anyway. I say, if you really can not work because you are sick, then don't go. Some people make martyrs of themselves by dragging in their sorry asses when what they really want is someone to notice them, feel sorry for them, and send them home. Others call in sick because they have a hangover. *shrugs* You can't really police it...so just do what your conscience dictates. Your use of sick days tends to follow you (this is a huge question employers ask about you when following up on your references...though I don't think that the question is completely legal).

So if I stay home to take care of my sick, contagious kid, rather than sending them to school (in my case, to the dayhome), am I abusing MY sick day? (In order to stay home, I have to take a sick day.) I can't help feeling guilty every time I have to do this. My sick days aren't for me...they are for my kids.

No-dont nitpick for exceptions, because I always allowed for those. I wanted employees to take days as needed-and a sick child at home is a necessity. I made exceptions to the rules wherever waranted. I let people make up time if they had already used up personal sick days as long as I knew they werent getting over on me.
I always looked at the give & take- people I dealt with gave me back more than they ever took-an employee thats happy and treated with respect and given a break they deserve-Most often they will pay you back in loyalty, effort and respect. Their work will reflect it and you'll look better.
I rarely if ever rffered to the rules and said "sorry-I cant help you-a rules a rule". That was bullshit for people you didnt care about and frnakly, shoulndt have been working there.
So- if you're the mom and your child is sick-I would be compassionate and not have any subliminal grudge you were using a day. And as for using time off or making it up, I was always very flexible within reason.
And I'd have the same employee arrive in the office and get to work before me-with a good attitude.

It depends on a lot of factors. If your co-worker were part-time and had no sick leave, he might not be able to afford to stay home financially. If he's full-time, there's the possibility that he might have very few sick days left and he may be trying to save them for a doctor's appointment down the road or for rest and recovery after surgery that he knows he has to have. Another thought is whether or not he had a deadline that he had to meet and for whatever reason, taking sick is not an option.

Also, between the extremes of calling in sick because you have the sniffles and going to work despite a deadly and contagious disease is a huge grey area that may depend on someone's threshold for discomfort. There've been times when I've stayed home or left early because my illness was bad enough to affect my concentration. There've been times when I've gone in despite being sick enough to stay at home and watch Dr. Phil.

The gist of it is that there may be a good reason why someone stays home. At the very least, it could be reasonable in the eyes of some people.

depending on where you work, its not as easy to just take a sick day. theres also many personal facotrs in it aswell, im sure they would be more then happy to take a sick day if it was granted to them and there would be no trouble later

One company I worked for had a fairly decent solution to the sick days/personal time dilemma: they gave us (on top of our vacation) 7 personal days a year. You could use them if you were sick, if you had a sick kid, to go to a dr. appt, or as a "mental health day" or whatever. If you're good and healthy, you get extra vacation. If your kid was sick, no need to try and sound sick yourself. (They didn't really want people to call in and say, "Hey, I dont' feel like coming in" on a day that they were needed, but if you're doing that, it's likely that you're not long for the job anyway.)

They aren't doing it just to get other people sick...but in our society, it is a weakness to not show up just because you're sick. People, especially older people, are proud that they 'never used a sick day in their life'. Plus, we are told, taking sick days is expensive, and therefore irresponsible. Many people get paid for a certain number of sick days, which 'drains company resources'. Those who have no paid sick days show up because they don't want to lose a day's wage. People who take sick days are generally ranked right up there with people who 'irresponsibly' take days off to take care of sick kids, or to attend the funerals of loved ones etc etc.

funny you mention that... i've heard of a moniker that might describe these folks:

Mucus Martyrs

Seems like a catch-22 to me...people resent you when you call in sick, and resent you when you don't. And as Bottle pointed out, you tend to be infectious before you have serious symptoms, so calling in sick is not necessarily going to prevent anyone from catching what you have anyway. I say, if you really can not work because you are sick, then don't go. Some people make martyrs of themselves by dragging in their sorry asses when what they really want is someone to notice them, feel sorry for them, and send them home. Others call in sick because they have a hangover. *shrugs* You can't really police it...so just do what your conscience dictates. Your use of sick days tends to follow you (this is a huge question employers ask about you when following up on your references...though I don't think that the question is completely legal).

just one thing about that:

while a person might be contagious before presenting symptoms, they do not stop being contagious while they are presenting symptoms (coughing, hacking, sneezing, etc.)... so it would help stop the spread of the contagions if the sick person stays home.

and, of course, if there are fewer contagions, it's likely that fewer people will contract the illness.

just one thing about that:

while a person might be contagious before presenting symptoms, they do not stop being contagious while they are presenting symptoms (coughing, hacking, sneezing, etc.)... so it would help stop the spread of the contagions if the sick person stays home.

Granted. Still, for many of the reasons already given, sometimes it just isn't feasible to call in sick. I like the idea of having 'personal days' to use for whatever, instead of having to always sound 'sick' in order to get a day off (for appointments, a sick relative, etc) and the concept of 'mental health days' is actually a pretty valid one. Sometimes you are just not stable enough to make it into work. Anyway, having a set amount of 'personal days' would take the onus of people having the 'fake sick' if they need a day for conselling, or whatever, and it saves employers having to decide if their employees are lying or not.

How do you feel when people come to work sick?

Should they stay home to spare the health of those who aren't sick?

I say "yes"

I also say yes!